


The Shortcake Lair

by VSprites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Comfort, Family, Friendship, Gen, Greengrass Family - Freeform, Greengrass sisters - Freeform, Nostalgia, Post-War, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, treehouse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 11:29:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VSprites/pseuds/VSprites
Summary: With the war over, the Greengrass sisters visit the treehouse of their childhood. One-shot.





	The Shortcake Lair

To the uninitiated,  _The_ _Shortcake Lair_ was just another crisp cypress tree among many, in the dense grove of the Greengrass estate. However, the  _uninitiated_  comprised of everyone  _except_ for the Greengrass sisters and their late father, who after completing an exhausting venture for the Department Of International Magical Cooperation, constructed the little sanctuary.

An ample smile spread on Daphne's face, as she recalled the summer of her ninth year. Astoria and herself leisurely spread on floating carpets, audience to their father's captivating wandwork. She was nearly a foot taller than Astoria, back then.

" _And what should we put here?" The luminescent green orb that followed dad's wand was beneath the apron of a window. The window sometimes showed a desert, before changing into a forest, a small town, or even a waterfall._

" _A fireplace!" Daphne said._

" _A rainbow!" Astoria added._

" _A thoughtful idea, Daph. A rainbow? How ambitious, Tory. Which one shall it be?"_

" _Well, I already picked the tea set, so Tory gets this one." A faint sense of regret tinged Daphne's voice._

" _Oh! How about a rainbow fireplace!" Astoria exclaimed, her slight head bobbing in elation._

" _You girls… a match made in hell. A rainbow fireplace it is!"_

As the memory of her father passed, a twinge of heat throbbed in Daphne's chest. A voice in her mind that sounded like Draco Malfoy told her to  _occlude_. Five deep exhalations later, Daphne Greengrass pointed her wand at the inconspicuous tree, allowing her hands to instinctively produce the wand motions to unlock her childhood sanctuary.

As a phantom bell made a chiming sound, several small, intertwined branches released one another, forming a rectangular opening in the tree. A series of vines, poorly fashioned in the shape of a ladder, uncoiled to the ground.

Unsure of who should be the first to rekindle the torch of nostalgia, the two Greengrass sisters stood in silence, facing the other.

"Fine, Daph." Astoria scaled the vine. Viscous sap stained her black, silk wrap-dress, as the rungs of the vine-ladder wiped against her. Daphne remembered the ladder as being  _dry_ ; perhaps this was the effect of leaving it unattended for a long time?

As soon as her sister entered the tree, Daphne followed. Gripping the vine, a surge of adrenaline heaved in Daphne's chest. Not only was it  _wet_ , but it was  _warm,_ and even  _throbbing_ , as though blood was pumping through it. Her memory wasn't fantastic, but Daphne clearly recalled the cool and  _dry_ consistency of the vine.

"Daph? Coming?" Astoria's small voice called. Although her sister was no more than a few feet above her, it sounded as though she were far, far away. Suddenly driven to catch up to her little sibling, Daphne hurriedly climbed the warm, pulsating ladder.

Entering, the reminiscent warmth in Daphne's heart amplified. Although the chamber was smaller than she remembered, everything was still there. The charmed scent of honey, dew, and roasted almonds calmed her. Small, fluorescent schools of painted fish swam through the walls of pecan-brown varnish.

Dark blue sand engulfed her feet, removing her espadrilles. She knew they were ejected outside, to sit next to the lowest rung of the vine-ladder. There were four curtainless bow windows, each charmed to display a different view. It was late at night in the ocean vista, but only sunset in the desert one. A ludicrously large tea set sat on a child-sized, star-shaped table, which had been charmed into a vibrant, cherry red.

The kaleidoscopic fireplace was still on, and even after all those tireless nights of gossip, gobstones, and fruit-flavoured pepper-up potions, Daphne found herself bewitched by its chromatic trance. The warm apricot flame became a dull plum one, before burgeoning into a rich, sapphiric blue.

"Daph? Tory! Oh my,  _look_  at you girls! How  _grown up_  you are!"

 _Dad?_ Daphne's gut wrenched. Was she dreaming, or was she going mad? She pinched herself, but found that she was already awake. She dared not look away from the protean fireplace.

"Ooh, Daph! You need to see this, come-come!" Astoria's excited voice sounded warped.

"There we are. A biiiiiig hug for my sweet Tory! Daph, won't you join in?"  _Dad-or-not_ chanted, in a nauseatingly familiar sing-song tone.

Bile rising in her throat, Daphne realised the craft at work; dark, dark magic was at play. She inhaled deeply.

" _Stupefy!"_ yelled Daphne. She let the reflexes drilled into her by Isidore Mulciber during the  _Christmas camp_ of a few months ago take over.

"Daphne! What-"

" _Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!"_ Without hazarding a second glance at her target, Daphne dashed toward her sister, grabbed her arm, ready to apparate-

"Daphne, what the FUCK!?" Astoria's familiar, irate voice bought Daphne's senses back to the forefront.

A large, green  _teddy bear_  lay in front of her, bound in vast chains. Its face was contorted as fearfully as a teddy bear's could be.

"What in the name of Salazar fucking Slytherin is  _this?!_ "

"A teddy bear? Daphne-"

"I can  _see that_. Why does it  _sound like dad_?"

"Oh my god. Oh-my-god. Dad made the bear! It was when you were over at the Parkinsons' for Christmas! Remember? In third year. We wanted to surprise you! But then d-d-dad got s-sick… a-and…"

"What, you wanted to  _surprise me_ now? A week after fucking  _Voldemort_ finally died, Tory-"

"No! No! Really, I-I forgot about the damn teddy bear and when I saw it I-I didn't think it was a big deal. I just wanted to s-show you."

"But it's not dad. It's not…"

"No, it's not."

Astoria pulled Daphne into a tight, tight hug, as though they were little girls again, warming at the fireside on Christmas eve.

Daphne noticed just how unalike the tidy, plaited ponytail that belonged to her little sister was from the charm-curled, potion-puffed mane that she wore before the war.

"Aww, look how dear you-"  _Bear-dad_ resumed.

"SHUT UP!" As she shouted, Daphne unconsciously squeezed her little sister. Astoria let out a whimper.

The bear, to its credit, actually heeded Daphne's command.

"Daph! Chill, it's fine. You're here, with me."

"Get rid of it. Tory.  _Please."_

"Okay."

Astoria released herself from her older sister's snug embrace, and withdrew her wand.

" _Bombarda!"_

A sharp, crackling sound later, pieces of cotton expelled all over the room; into Daphne's teacups, into Astoria's fireplace, and all about the floor of blue sand. The bear's head, however, managed to divorce from the body in a whole piece.

"You just killed dad!" Daphne squealed.

" _You just killed dad?!"_ Astoria repeated, closely inspecting her older sister's face.

"I-I d-didn't mean it like t-that! Just t-thought you'd  _Silencio_ it or s-something. Not blow it up! Sorry-" Daphne's face reddened, like an erratically brewed boil cure.

"It's fine. Like you said, it's not dad. Just a faint echo of him. Best that it's gone, really." With a switch of her wand, Astoria vanished much of cottony debris on the ground.

"What a mess." Daphne murmured. Astoria nodded in agreement.

" _Accio teddy's head._ " The great cotton-leaking, decapitated green head flew into Astoria's hand. She paced in front of the fireplace, and set the head on the floor.

" _Engorgio."_  The decapitated head became a vast cushion, as Astoria fell into it.

"Daph? Join me?"

"It-it's a head…"

"Well spotted. Now come."

Daphne indulged the request. The decapitated head was surprisingly comfortable to rest on.

" _You just killed dad."_ Astoria chortled. Daphne gave her an incredulous look, before succumbing to laughter herself.

The fireplace flickered from a bitter, decaying-teeth-like yellow to a mellow teal.


End file.
